K is for Kidnapped Children. When an Alabama boy was taken from his school bus last month and held hostage, it made national news. It was horrifying and nearly impossible to think that such a thing could have happened, that a child could be taken from his parents. But it happens more often than you…
All of the taxes in the world don’t mean a thing if you can’t collect on them – or so many states and localities are figuring out these days. Taxing authorities from Tennessee to New Jersey are reporting shortfalls and lags in collections activities just as cuts from federal funding are being felt. Some taxing…
J is for Junk Fees. If you’ve ever bought or sold a home, you’ve probably seen a laundry list of fees on your sale or mortgage papers. These fees, usually found at the bottom, are in addition to notary fees and appraisal fees, and are sometimes called “junk fees.” While a specific fee may be…
It’s 2013. Do you know where your refund is? No, not your 2012 refund (arguably, no one knows where many of those are) but your 2009 refund. Nearly $1 billion in outstanding refunds remain unclaimed by an estimated 984,400 taxpayers who did not file a federal income tax return for 2009. How much is a…
Pop star Justin Bieber raised eyebrows this week for his bizarre swipe at Lindsay Lohan. After being compared to the troubled Lohan in the press, Bieber took to the social media site Instagram to badmouth the Mean Girls star, saying, among other things: “to those comparing me to Lindsay Lohan look at her 2012 tax…
H is for Hardship Withdrawal. When resources are limited – especially in a tough economy – taxpayers look all over the place to pay bills, from the equity in their homes to under the sofa cushions. One of the options that taxpayers often consider is a hardship withdrawal from a retirement plan. Retirement plans, such…
(Note: Updated to reflect Department of Education comments.) As anger continues to grow over delays with processing the federal form 8863, Education Credits, I reached out to the Internal Revenue Service, H&R Block, and the Department of Education to answer your questions. IRS spokesperson Michelle Eldridge offered the following statement about the delays: The IRS…
Tax season is proving to be a major headache for taxpayers this season. And it looks like it’s not about to get better for hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who claimed the American Opportunity Credit or the Lifetime Learning Credit on their personal income tax returns. To claim the credit, taxpayers must file a federal…
Guilty. It’s a word that former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick heard 24 times today. A former political star, Kilpatrick became the youngest person elected to mayor of Detroit in 2001; he was 31 years old at the time. Detroit residents had high hopes for the new mayor. The city, which had seen its share of…
Practically every year, I get a query or two about how to make a donation to the federal government to pay down the debt. Apparently, it’s keeping some of you up at night. It’s a complicated issue because most of us can’t explain, at any given time, what the debt is and how it’s calculated….